Get Legislature's OK on lottery

There aren't many policy avenues where Gov. Chris Christie has followed the path of his predecessor, Jon Corzine.

But attempting to privatize a major state asset appears to be one of the few such areas where the two men share some common ground. Administration officials have been laying the groundwork for months to turn over operation of the New Jersey Lottery through a contract that would last 15 years and have the winning bidder pay the state $120 million for the right to take on the job.

We wonder about the need for this and the potential negative long-term ramifications, particularly of committing for 15 years to a first contract. Some Democratic legislators also have doubts. One of them, Assembly Budget Committee Chairman Vincent Prieto, D-Hudson, has introduced a bill, A-3614, that would require approval from the Legislature for any bid to privatize the lottery.

The governor surely does not want to hinge his plan on say-so from the Senate and Assembly, but we agree with Prieto that when we're talking about a public asset of this much value - the lottery is the state government's fourth-largest source of revenue - it makes sense to have a deliberative process that includes lawmakers' input and votes.

After all, our state lottery is considered to be efficient and well run. It's generally not held up as a poster child of bad management and wastefulness. And among 44 state lotteries across the nation, New Jersey's ranks fifth in per-capita sales.

All that said, Christie isn't wrong to at least consider the possibility that there's room for greater efficiency and potential for more revenue through increased sales, which a private operator would look for in new ways, including online sales, new kinds of games and expanding the number of retail locations where lottery tickets are sold. That's part of what this push is about.

According to New Jersey Lottery data from the 2011 fiscal year, the lottery generated $2.64 billion in sales, with more than 57 percent of that going back into prizes and 35 percent (about $930 million) going toward scholarships and state education funds, psychiatric hospitals, centers for the developmentally disabled and homes for disabled veterans.

The lottery lists its administrative costs at less than 1 percent, but that's still more than $20 million, perhaps offering room to save.

But the less comforting part of what this is about is simply creating another gimmicky, one-shot cash influx to help balance a state budget. Christie vowed when he was running for governor that he would not continue the ways of other governors who similarly used one-time deals to plug budget holes.

When Corzine made his privatization push for the state's toll roads, the public blowback was enormous and the reception among legislators, even fellow Democrats, was cool. That doomed his ill-conceived plan to sign away our toll roads for decades.

With Christie's plan here, a tidal wave of public anger isn't likely to materialize. This is the lottery, a "tax," as it were, that's completely voluntary, unlike tolls that people have to pay to use the roads. And no one's talking about tripling or more the price of lottery tickets, which was the case with some of the huge toll increases being put forth after Corzine switched from privatization to "monetization" of the toll roads.

Nonetheless, we hope this isn't a case of a solution (privatization) looking for a problem.

And we do think consideration must be given here for what a major change in how and where lottery tickets are sold could affect small-business owners statewide - those who own gas stations, convenience stores, liquor stores, etc. Independently owned businesses such as these account for more than 78 percent of lottery sales, according to research commissioned by the state.

Such factors are likely to be weighed by legislators, as they should be, considering the domino-effect potential for private-sector job loss.

We're not saying no to privatization, but it needs to be the right deal for the right reasons and all of the potential effects must be considered. The Legislature should have a say in the matter.

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Get Legislature's OK on lottery

There aren't many policy avenues where Gov. Chris Christie has followed the path of his predecessor, Jon Corzine. But attempting to privatize a major state asset appears to be one of the few such

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